Teacher Purple Laksmi

Photo from Obrakadabra. (Thank you for beautifully capturing this)

When I saw this photo it reminded me of our first days here at the farm.

We came here without any money only a passion and great desire to fulfill a mission, to continue with our advocacies: homeschooling, nature awareness and yoga way of life.

I was also recovering from my health condition, (paralyzed for almost 2 years).

Looking back, I cannot imagine how we got from those days to here. All I know is that if you want something,

You go for it with all your heart, work hard and do the best you can do.

Pray. Offer them to God.

Soon He will send the people and the means for you to achieve them.

Recently, one of my mentors reminded me that God, is in our hearts, He knows our desires. And if we truly want it, He gives them to us.

He shared the farm's history. Truly an inspiring story. He too, didn't have anything when they started the farm.

So, why am I being so senti about a simple signage? Because it represents,

💜 All good things take time.
It took us years to finally put this up. We wanted it to be ready for the very first wedding (outside our community), so we finally pushed for it. (Hindi kasi namin nafigure out agad, ano nga ba ang bagay na sign? At kung kelangan ba talaga ahahah).

💜 Community effort.
🌿Makyo, represented the artist community. He also represented how this place has attracted volunteers like him.
🌿Vaishnava who represented our family and Yoga Community.
🌿Farm workers. (They too were given work because of the farm). We started with just one worker and today we have more than 5 families working part time. We hope to give them regular work). In time...

💜 Nature awareness.
The materials used were leftovers/scraps from the big hall.

As we move forward towards a new chapter in our journey, (offering the farm as venue for private events) I feel nostalgic that Astrolikha Creative Spaces came back to Navadwip Farm after 7 years to conduct their Likha Art Camp LAC.

And confident that our venue is going to be supported by those who seek it.

Brief history.
In 2018, My daughters were aspiring artists and so I searched for creative spaces for them that was within our reach. So they joined as a merchant and signed up as a performer for Likha Art Fair, Imus. It was their first time to sing outside the homeschool or yoga community circle.

I loved how warm and welcoming the community were. It was like performing for friends and relatives eventhough they were all strangers.(And with the recent LAC, wala parin pinagbago. Ganun parin ka welcoming ang community, kahit na ang iba ay first timers lang).

Truly, you attract the kind of energy you give out.

Stepping into the unknown territory was worrisome for me because there were a lot of questions about difference in principles and values.

One of them being, "Is it a family friendly event?"
It wasn't and it was understable. We were not within our circle.

But we met friendly and accommodating organizers headed by Onix, Marny and Jaxx.

We also met talented artists and co-merchants like Gini, Porcia, Fritzie, Aya, Roselyn, and many more. Who my daughters, up to this day stay connected.

After event, we were able to invite Roselyn for a water color workshop for a homeschool event then later Gini became a regular volunteer for Gopala's art workshops/events and now she has became an extended family along with Makyo. She also became my daughters number one fan aside from me of course. And invited them wherever she possible.

I want to take a moment for Jack. He organized the first LAC at the farm. He passed away during Covid outbreak. He was a humble and thoughtful person. Though our paths crossed for a brief moment. We miss him.

We collabed with Astrolikha for I think 2 more events before lock down.

We had to stop joining after a few events because I felt my youngest was still a minor and I didn't want to push her for something she didn't really know - she wanted but they continued performing in our circle and online.

Last year, the Free Spirits Philippines started to perform again in public spaces.

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Astrolikha has personally given me the opportunity to apply the principles we learned in our Yoga Practice.

--- That it is important to live in harmony with everyone and we can do that if we have mutual respect for one another despite our differences. ---

I value the respect Onix and his team headed by Paul, have for our sacred place and our practice. Following the guidelines and restrictions we requested to their best capacity.

I thank everyone who attended as merchants, participants, and performers, who followed such requests.

I know they are not easy to follow. 🙏

In everything we do respect can bring us together no matter where we come from.

Respect doesn't mean we bend our values or principles. We have to be rooted in them so that we will not be easily swayed. (And this is one of the reasons we stopped joining events. I want to properly prepare our daughters for the world beyond our circle first).

We can set boundaries and compromise to our most comfortable place.

We have to embrace the reality that we are individuals and each of us has our own free will. We cannot force anyone to accept our ways.

With this, if we go to places/events/gatherings/public spaces we cannot come as if we own the world.

Guidelines, rules, and restrictions are there for a hopefully harmonious co-existence.

And as naturally loving people, it is in our nature to love and care for others. Therefore, we will mutually respect each other.

PS. If we want to continue thriving we need to surround ourselves with likeminded people more. Going outside our circle can be once in a while.

Nakaka ubos din kasi ng energy. 😅☺️🥰
Napahaba na naman.

Sana naka abot kayo dito.
Comment NAMASTE.
Which means -- I the person within this body, offer my most humble respects unto you the person within the body. --
🙏

Nakabenta kami pero parang luge ahahaha.
Mas marami pa kaming kain kesa benta. 😅

Best seller Tofu Balls ubos agad first day pa lang.

A new best seller is our Langkatsu. A dish I taught at one of our LOL Lessons on Life Hangout last year ☺️

I was kilig when one of the parents shared, langkatsu is now part of their home menu because their kids liked it!

I love creating new dishes. Hihi.. (kaya naman na false ego nung sinabihang... nagluluto ka?)

I also created a new dish for the recent event called -- Pulled Langka -- kaya lang kelangan pa i-improve. It's a bit sour for my family's taste palette. But participants who tasted it said it was good. 😊